Beware of Scammers

The ATO has been issuing warnings about scammers purporting to represent the ATO or being from the ATO. They are either requesting personal and financial details under the guise of a tax refund entitlement or detail a debt owing along with an impending legal action and demand for payment. These scams can be in form of phone calls as well as emails and both businesses and individuals are targeted.

Unfortunately many people have fallen into the trap, as it is easy to do, and end up either losing money or having their identity stolen.

Please be careful – the ATO will never call to demand a payment be made over the phone, nor issue a refund using your credit card nor will they call with regards to being arrested.

When the ATO needs to contact you, they will normally send a message through to your secure myGov account or through your tax agent.

Businesses, when you receive emails that don’t seem right, chances are they are not. They may contain malicious software that will infect your computer and steal your business’ data or install viruses, ransomware or keyloggers.